Plug-in circuit element

ABSTRACT

A support member of a circuit element is provided with openings extending therethrough, and in each of these openings there is lodged one contact sleeve which is provided with a center passage having one end portion whose cross section is circular and which is adapted to accommodate a contact pin, and another end portion whose cross section is convergent in direction away from the first-mentioned end portion and whose smallest cross section is somewhat less than the cross section of a contact wire. In the region of the convergent end portion the sleeve is provided with an axial slot so that it can be somewhat expanded. Thus, the circuit element can be used with both contact pins and contact wires, at the will of a user.

United States Patent Fischer et al.

[ Jan. 14, 1975 PLUG-1N CIRCUIT ELEMENT [75] Inventors: Artur Fischer;Gerhard Porlein,

both of Tumlingen; Theo Killgus, Freudenstadt, all of Germany [73]Assignee: Artor & Fischer, Tumlingen,

Germany [22] Filed: Sept. 11, 1973 [21] Appl. No.2 396,192

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 12, 1972 Germany 2244656[52] US. Cl. 339/258 R, 339/252 R [51] Int. Cl H0lr 11/22 [58] Field ofSearch 339/258, 252, 220

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,814,024 11/1957 Narozny339/220 R 3,060,402 10/1962 Olsson et a1. 339/220 R 3,156,517 11/1964Maximoff et al 339/220 R Pritulsky 339/258 A Shannon 339/258 R [57]ABSTRACT A support member of a circuit element is provided with openingsextending therethrough, and in each of these openings there is lodgedone contact sleeve which is provided with a center passage having oneend portion whose cross section is circular and which is adapted toaccommodate a contact pin, and another end portion whose cross sectionis convergent in direction away from the first-mentioned end portion andwhose smallest cross section is somewhat less than the cross section ofa contact wire. In the region of the convergent end portion the sleeveis provided with an axial slot so that it can be somewhat expanded.Thus, the circuit element can be used with both contact pins and contactwires, at the will of a user.

6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PLUG-IN CIRCUIT ELEMENT BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION The present invention relates generally to a plug-in circuitelement, and more particularly to a plug-in circuit element for use withboth contact wires and contact pins.

Circuit boards, electronic circuit elements and the like are usuallyprovided with contact sleeves, some of which may already be electricallyconnected. When an electric circuit is to be established, pins or wiresofcircuit elements are inserted into these contact sleeves in accordancewith the desired circuit arrangement. It is already known to facilitatethe handling and improve the appearance of such arrangements byaccommodating the electrical or electronic circuit components in ahousing and to connect their contact wires to contact pins locatedexteriorly of the housing and which are then inserted into the contactsleeves mentioned earlier.

The prior-art contact sleeves are cylindrical sleeves whose centerpassage or bore has a cross section corresponding to the exteriordimension of the contact pin. However, although this basic prior-artidea is attractive and advantageous, it is frequently observed that thenumber of housings available for insertion of electrical or electroniccircuit components is not sufficient to meet all requirements, or nosuch housings are available at all. In other words, it is then necessaryto use the electrical or electronic circuit components by themselves,without the housings, and in consequence there will then be no contactpins (which are provided on the housings) that can be inserted into thecontact sleeves. This makes the electrical connection of the electronicor electric circuit components with the contact sleeves eitherimpossible, or at least very much more difficult because the contactsleeves are not capable -or at least not readily so of connection withthe much thinner contact wires or leads of the components, as opposed tothe larger-diameter pins of the housings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, accordingly, an object of the inventionto overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.

More particularly it is an object of the present invention to provide aplug-in circuit element which is capable of being used without contactwires and contact pins, that is with contact components having differentdiameters.

In keeping with these objects, and with others which will becomeapparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides, in a plug-incircuit element for use with both contact wires and contact pins, in acombination comprising a support member, and at least one contact sleevemounted on the support member and provided with a center passage. Thecenter passage has one end portion and an other end portion, and thecross section of the passage in the one end portion is circular andadapted to accommodate a contact pin. In the other end portion the crosssection of the passage is convergent in direction away from the one endportion and the contact sleeve is provided at least in the other endportion with an axial slot extending towards the one end portion.

With this arrangement it is possible to insert, as the particularrequirements of a given situation dictate, either the contact pins whichare introduced into and frictionally retained in the one end portion, orcontact wires which are introduced through the one end portion into theother end portion where they are frictionally retained. Each of thecontact wires will provide reliable contact in the contact sleeve,irrespective of its cross-sectional dimensions and the accuracy andconstancy of electrical connection is assured. This is due to the factthat the axial slot permits the sleeve to be slightly flexed apart oninsertion of the contact wires. so that the contact wires are held inplace in any dc sired position and proper contact is assured at alltimes.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary section,illustrating one embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 illustrating a somewhat differentembodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 1 it will be seen that reference numeral 1identifies an elongated contact sleeve which has a constant outerdiameter over its entire length. It has a center passage or bore 2, oneend portion 1a of which is of cylindrical cross section and has an innerdiameter corresponding to the outer diameter of a contact pin 3 which isto be inserted into it. The other end portion lb of the passage 2 isconvergent and in this region the contact sleeve 1 is provided with anaxially extending slot 4 so that it can flex apart. The minimum innerdiameter of the convergent portion lb of the passage 2 is smaller thanthe outer diameter of the contact wire 5 which is to be inserted intoit, so that the sleeve will be flexed apart (thanks to the provision ofthe slot 4) when the contact wire 5 is inserted.

With this arrangement it is possible to use either contact pins 3 orcontact wires 5 of the electrical or electronic components 6, entirelyat the will of the user.

The sleeve 1 is mounted in a support member 7 (here illustrated as apart of a circuit 4), extending through an opening thereof, and it isprovided on its outer circumference with an annular collar 8 which abutsagainst one side of the circuit board 7. The distance of the collar 8from the axial end face of the sleeve 1 is so selected that a part ofthe sleeve 1 extends beyond the opposite side of the circuit board 7,that is the side opposite that against which the collar 8 abuts. Thispart is then outwardly upset or otherwise deformed to retain the sleeve1 in place.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2 the construction is somewhat different, butlike components have been given like reference numerals. In thisembodiment the portion of the contact sleeve 1 which is provided with aconvergent cross section passage part is flattened in parallelism withthe center plane passing axially through the slot 4, and this results ofcourse not only in a change in the exterior configuration of the sleevel. but also in the convergents of the passage 2 in this region, tothereby permit the insertion and retention of the contact wires 5. Inother respects, this embodiment is the same as the one in FIG. 1.

The present invention is particularly suitable with a plug-in connectionof electronic modules which already have a complete detail circuit, orfor dummy modules which have only contact points arranged in form of agrid and which can be mechanically and electrically connected with theelectronic components and serve to increase the number of contact pointsthereof. The detail circuit of the electronic components thus can serveas the starting point of a larger circuit arrangement, and theconstruction of the contact sleeves in accordance with the presentinvention permits optimum utilization of the number of contact points,because it permits the insertion of both the contact wires and contactpins, as the requirements may dictate, and assures reliable electricalcontact at all times irrespective of the particular pin or wireutilized.

The squeezing to flattened condition of the sleeve in the embodiment ofFIG. 2 provides for a simple manner of reducing the cross section of thepassage to permit insertion and retention of the contact wires 5. Thesesleeves are usually made of thin-walled tubes the inner diameter ofwhich corresponds to the outer diameter of the contact pins. Thus, thesqueezing permits a simple reduction of the inner diameter of the borein the tube so that it can accommodate the contact wires 5 also.Moreover, the squeezing provides for an increased flexing action, thatis the wire will be more reliably retained in engagement with thematerial of the tube when it flexes the same apart.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofconstructions differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in aplug-in circuit element, it is not intended to be limited to the detailsshown, since various modifications and structural changes may be madewithout departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for various applications without omitting featuresthat, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essentialcharacteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this inventionand, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent isset forth in the appended claims:

1. In a plug-in circuit element for use with largerdiameter contact pinsand with smaller-diameter contact wires, a combination comprising asupport member; and at least one contact sleeve mounted on said supportmember and provided with a center passage, said contact sleeve having afirst longitudinal portion extending partially from one end to an otherend of said sleeve, and a second longitudinal portion extending fromsaid first portion to said other end, and said center passage having afirst elongated section of a constant diameter located within said firstportion and adapted to accommodate a contact pin in frictionalsurface-to-surface engagement, and a second elongated portion of asmaller diameter than said first portion located within said secondportion and adapted to accommodate a contact wire in frictionalsurfacc-tosurface engagement said first and second portions beingconnected by a tapered portion of said passage, said sleeve beingfurther provided with an axial slot extending from said other end towardsaid one end past said tapered portion.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1; and further comprising at leastone contact wire insertable through said first longitudinal portion intosaid second longitudinal portion, said contact wire having an outerdiameter greater than the smallest inner diameter of said secondlongitudinal portion so as to be frictionally retained therein.

3. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said second longitudinalportion, is deformed to partially flattened configuration in parallelismwith a plane passing centrally and longitudinally through said slot.

4. A combination as defined in claim 1, said support member having anopening and said contact sleeve extending through said opening; andwherein said first longitudinal portion is in part located within saidopenmg.

5. A combination as defined in claim 4, wherein said contact sleeve hasa free axial end from which said second longitudinal portion extendsinwardly towards said other end portion; and wherein said contact sleeveis provided with an exterior circumferential collar which is spacedaxially from said free axial end by a distance which is at least equalto the thickness of said support member.

6. A combination as defined in claim 1; and further comprising at leastone contact pin insertable into said first longitudinal portion forfrictional retention therein.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATEN? NO. 13,860,323 DATED 1 Jan. 21, 1975 INVENTORL'S) 3 Artur Fischer et al.

H is certa-ied thaf en'or agpeazs iH the3b0ve1dent|f1ed patent and thatsazd Letters Patent an: hereby COHELTLSU as shown below On the coversheet [73] the name of the Assignee should read Artur Fischerj '1, :1---

Signed and Scaled this twenty-second Day Of July 1975 [SEAL] Arrest:

i RUTH c. MASON c. MARSHALL DANN Arlc'slmg Officer Commissioner ofParents and Trademarks

1. In a plug-in circuit element for use with larger-diameter contactpins and with smaller-diameter contact wires, a combination comprising asupport member; and at least one contact sleeve mounted on said supportmember and provided with a center passage, said contact sleeve having afirst longitudinal portion extending partially from one end to an otherend of said sleeve, and a second longitudinal portion extending fromsaid first portion to said other end, and said center passage having afirst elongated section of a constant diameter located within said firstportion and adapted to accommodate a contact pin in frictionalsurface-to-surface engagement, and a second elongated portion of asmaller diameter than said first portion located within said secondportion and adapted to accommodate a contact wire in frictionalsurface-to-surface engagement said first and second portions beingconnected by a tapered portion of said passage, said sleeve beingfurther provided with an axial slot extending from said other end towardsaid one end past said tapered portion.
 2. A combination as defined inclaim 1; and further comprising at least one contact wire insertablethrough said first longitudinAl portion into said second longitudinalportion, said contact wire having an outer diameter greater than thesmallest inner diameter of said second longitudinal portion so as to befrictionally retained therein.
 3. A combination as defined in claim 1,wherein said second longitudinal portion, is deformed to partiallyflattened configuration in parallelism with a plane passing centrallyand longitudinally through said slot.
 4. A combination as defined inclaim 1, said support member having an opening and said contact sleeveextending through said opening; and wherein said first longitudinalportion is in part located within said opening.
 5. A combination asdefined in claim 4, wherein said contact sleeve has a free axial endfrom which said second longitudinal portion extends inwardly towardssaid other end portion; and wherein said contact sleeve is provided withan exterior circumferential collar which is spaced axially from saidfree axial end by a distance which is at least equal to the thickness ofsaid support member.
 6. A combination as defined in claim 1; and furthercomprising at least one contact pin insertable into said firstlongitudinal portion for frictional retention therein.